


How It All Starts

by LunarisXXXIII



Series: The Tinkerer's Guide to The Multiverse [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Fluff and Humor, I did this instead of working on my other series, Implied/Referenced Slavery, Minor Character Death, Only somewhat sorry, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate AU, Swearing, Violence, because the author thinks they're funny, dimensional shenanigans, mentions of forced marriage, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21690526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarisXXXIII/pseuds/LunarisXXXIII
Summary: Sans and Papyrus of the Classic Universe (now known as Comic and Rus) have been universe-hopping throughout the infinite multiverse, connecting universes and expanding travel using the machine in their basement, but there's something different about this one...
Series: The Tinkerer's Guide to The Multiverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585552
Comments: 10
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

As soon as Sans and Papyrus’ feet land in the snow, Sans turns to his brother.

"looks like we're outside of snowdin this time. totally gonna be smooth sailing from here, 'ey paps?" He says in a whisper as he looks out over the frozen landscape.

Papyrus shoots his brother a glare, not trusting his naturally loud voice not to alert anyone nearby as they both move to hide in the forest off the main road. 

"what, do ya think i'm gonna jinx it or something? Sans asks with a cheeky grin. "c'mon paps, i told you i have a good feeling about this one."

Papyrus stays silent, simply rolling his eyes at his brother’s teasing and motioning him further from the beaten path. The two of them head for the treeline silently, weaving through the sparse underbrush in the frost-coated woods.

...

A few months ago, Sans had gotten the machine in their basement working. The P.D. (as Sans called it for some reason), was apparently something Sans had been working on in their basement for several years before it’s recent completion (he did have to applaud his normally lazy brother for the effort he had obviously put into the project) and according to his brother, had the power to transport them to alternate universes. Sans had been… reluctant to say the least when it actually came to testing out the portal, running endless and repetitive tests to ensure it’s safety before even allowing Papyrus to be in the same room as the machine at all. ~~He really didn’t want to think about the haunted look that had crossed Sans’ features when he had asked to be present for the testing phase. Sans had denied him and he hadn’t asked again.~~ Ever since, the two had been visiting other worlds and exploring the variations the multiverse held.

Papyrus looked back fondly on some of the worlds, like the Swap ‘verse and their alternates Stretch and Blue who were rather pleasant to be around, though the extreme differences in personality were somewhat jarring.

Sometimes they came across universes that were… less than friendly however, and as such they had created a system for them to determine how to avoid dangers in rougher universes. 

Upon their arrival to a new universe, they would do their best to sneak around for a bit, trying to gauge what was considered normal. Using the changes of clothes they kept in their inventories, they were able to keep from sticking out too much from the locals; the better they blended in, the more likely they would leave the universe without issue.The system was certainly not infallible and often the brothers were left rushing for an early escape, but for the most part, they were safe so long as they could put up a front.

…

The brothers followed the treeline in the direction of Snowdin, carefully scanning the area for threats or clues to this universe’s rules. Papyrus always hated this part, the sneaking around wherever they happened to pop in, it never failed to make him nervous about what was to come.

Not this time though. This time, Papyrus couldn't help but share Sans' unusual optimism upon entering this world. 

Since they couldn't direct the machine to a specific spot on the first go, they usually appeared somewhere halfway across the Underground from their intended destination, which meant hours upon hours of hiding and sneaking around until they could figure out how to appear inconspicuous. Appearing here, they were already far ahead of schedule and in familiar territory to boot.

It was certainly good fortune and Papyrus could only hope it would last.

They had passed by what was Sans’ station in their world without incident and were coming up on Doggo’s when they heard a loud snarling from ahead, the brothers shooting each other a look before crouching further into the undergrowth. In the road were what looked like scarred-up versions of Lesser and Greater Dog from their world, swinging weapons and biting at each other viciously. Papyrus looked on in horror as Greater Dog pinned Lesser with it’s spear before biting the smaller dog’s throat and shaking it like a rat, Lesser dog letting out a pitiful yelp before crumbling to dust in Greater’s jaws. Greater Dog howled it’s victory, ~~the subtle misting of it’s breath in the cold air mingling with the remains of it’s victim~~ before scampering back down the path towards the Ruins. 

Papyrus suddenly didn’t feel so hopeful about what they would find in this universe.

Sans was the first to speak up afterwards, still obviously shaken by the violence they had just witnessed, but trying to appear calm. “welp, i’m gonna bet on this one being a fell ‘verse. we’d best get dressed for success.”

“I do believe that you are correct Sans.” Papyrus agreed, doing his best to keep his voice low as he began searching through his inventory.

At one point, the brothers had appeared in a universe where monsters lived under the law of ‘kill or be killed’. The two of them had been at a loss for how to handle things, running from one fight to the next until they happened across their alternates. The angry Sans and quiet him had been the ones to help them come up with their arrival plan, helping them decide on the safest course of action they could take on top of giving them lessons about how to avoid raising suspicion.

These lessons, while certainly informative, left much to be desired in Papyrus’ opinion. His own alternate had spent most of the time trying to teach him how to pick locks and identify drugs which while… interesting… did not seem particularly useful. Sans’ alternate on the other hand had tried to drill him on the various methods of sneak attacks, usually by sneaking up on and attacking Sans screaming about how, “THE MALEFICENT SANS CANNOT ALLOW SOMEONE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE ME DIE IN SUCH A PATHETIC MANNER!” Papyrus’ smile twitched at the memory. Their alternates, while occasionally rude and a bit rough around the edges, were rather kind and understanding. They had gone back to that universe, which they had labeled SwapFell, several times since then, sometimes to visit and others to help Razz and Slim with issues they were facing.

The two of them quickly changed into their ‘edgelord outfits’ as Sans called them, Papyrus morosely wishing for his brightly colored armor as he donned the dark jacket and pants given to him by his alternate. He had sadly been forced to discard his battle body many universes ago, it simply made him stand out too much and often didn’t fit with the aesthetic of any universe they came across.

“how do i look paps?” Sans asked, his grin dropping slightly as he put on his ‘game face’. A stony look masked his naturally amused features, turning his normally friendly smile into a threatening glare, his hands stuffed in the pockets of a dark purple hooded jacket and a plain leather collar around his neck.

Their alternates had explained how dangerous it was for a monster with Sans’ stats in their universe, many monsters thinking that he would be 'Free EXP' that was easily taken. ~~It still frightened Papyrus to think about how casually they spoke of monsters murdering each other, how monsters would seek to gain some tainted power through the murder of their kin.~~ A collar with Papyrus’ magic was an easy solution that dissuaded most from attacking for fear of a stronger monster’s wrath. 

“Excellent brother, you appear very much like a serious person! Your acting skills are improving!” Papyrus said with a sly grin.

Sans put a hand to his sternum with an expression of mock-hurt. “i can’t believe you said that bro, i’ll have you know that i _am_ very serious and my acting has always been naturally amazing.”

“Well ‘Very Serious’ it is nice to meet you, I am Papyrus.” Papyrus quipped back. Sans did his best to keep his laughter quiet as he beamed up at his brother. 

“nice one paps.”

“Why thank you brother!”

The two continued onwards towards Snowdin, attempting to stay out of sight as much as possible and occasionally disarming or avoiding various traps they came across. When they finally reached town, passing a graffitied ‘Welcome to Snowdin’ sign, they immediately felt eyes on them. The malicious intent of the onlookers was palpable, sending up red flags in Papyrus mind as he became more nervous and tried to remember his alternate’s advice. 

Don’t turn to look at anyone. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t look at Sans. Don’t show fear. Don’t show weakness.

Papyrus took a breath to calm himself, quickly getting back into the proper mindset. He let out a strong wave of negative intent, a warning to the monsters watching that he was not an easy kill.

While that didn’t stop the staring, Papyrus recognised that the monsters were no further threat and that he would only need to step up if someone actually came looking for a fight.

Sans meanwhile, had been trailing a few steps behind Papyrus. He knew without even looking back that his brother was doing his best to look both solemn and unassuming while keeping an eye out for their alternates or their house. They hadn’t seen either of them when passing the sentry stations, and there was no sign of either being on patrol in the woods. This had begun to leave Papyrus curious about what their alternates were doing ~~or if they were even still around at all~~.

By the time that they had arrived at a house very similar to their own, most of the staring had tapered off and Papyrus made his way to the front door.


	2. Chapter 2

Papyrus walked up the steps to their alternates’ house and knocked on the door. 

**KNOCK KNOCK**

As he waited, Papyrus took a moment to notice all the differences between this house and their own. There were no Gyftmas lights strung up outside, already making the house seem much darker and less cheerful than their own and the house itself seemed to be in varying states of disrepair, with large gashes marring the wood, not to mention that every one of the windows were boarded up to allow almost no view of the outside.

Papyrus’ head snapped forward as he heard a shuffling from inside the house. A gruff voice called out from behind the door.

“who the hell is it?”

The anger in the individual’s tone caught Papyrus off guard and he hesitated, prompting Sans to reply instead.

“lettuce.”

The person on the other side of the door hesitated for just a moment.

“lettuce who?” 

“ _lettuce_ in, it’s freezing out here.” Sans finished with a grin as Papyrus rolled his eyes dramatically.

The individual let out a hearty chuckle and soon they were met with the sound of the door unlocking. It took almost thirty seconds for the sound of locks opening to die down before the door swung open to reveal what was obviously one of his brother’s alternates.

He was similar to Sans in both size and appearance, though he was a bit taller and stockier than Sans. He looked back at Papyrus with glowing red eyelights, his perma-grin full of sharpened teeth looking more like an angry grimace than a smile. A large crack over his left eye socket trailed down to a false golden tooth that shone dimly in the low light.

His brother's alternate looked over them both for a long moment and Papyrus had to force down a shiver as he felt a CHECK wash over him. While it was considered extremely rude to do so without permission outside of battle in his own world, he knew it was rather standard practice to size up potential threats. There was a drawn out silence as the other Sans processed the likely confusing information from both CHECKS.

“i think i’m seeing _double_ here.”

Of course it was a pun. What else had he really been expecting?

Sans chuckled, “well pal, _two_ can play at that game.”

The other’s grin widened at the challenge. 

“so ya think yer pretty _punny_ huh?”

“you could say i’m in a _league of my own_.”

“wow, really _doubling_ down on that.”

“Alright that is enough Sans, we’re still in the open.” Papyrus interrupted.

“and i was just getting warmed up. hey, whose jokes were better?”

“No! Do not get me involved in your pun war!”

“aww c’mon bro, just tell him that my puns are the most _sans-ational_.” His brother said with a wink.

“...You automatically lose.” Papyrus deadpanned, trying his best not to laugh.

“i can’t believe this, my own brother...” Sans sniffled, pretending to wipe away a tear.

The other Sans chuckled at their antics for a moment before ushering them inside.

“hurry up and come in already, i’ve got a doctors appointment later.”

“oh yeah?” Sans asked and Papyrus swore he could feel the pun being set up

“yeah, boss’s worried 'bout how much i’m _talking to myself_.”

Papyrus let out an exaggerated groan as both Sanses chuckled, making their way inside the house. 

\-----

The differences between their houses were actually rather small; black and orange carpet instead of blue and purple, a missing joke book and pet rock as well as the addition of what looked to be a rather well-used scratching post in the farthest corner. The house in general seemed a bit less personal than their own home, but overall they were surprisingly similar.

The questions started almost as soon as the door shut.

“so, you wanna explain who you are and why you’re here?”

“Ah yes, introductions!” Papyrus started excitedly. “I am the Great Papyrus and this is my brother Sans! We are here travelling throughout the infinite multiverse for… well...” He paused a moment, trying to find a fitting description for their travels.

“we’re basically tourists.” Sans interjects casually.

The other Sans gave them an incredulous look. “why the hell would ya go here of all places? it’s not exactly sunshine and rainbows and shit.”

"honestly that's kind of the point." Sans admits. “mostly we just hang around for a bit to see how things are and if we meet people that wanna chat or travel like we do, we hook ‘em up and help to get their machine going.”

“Yes, that! Exactly!” Papyrus yelled, gesturing to his brother. “In some strange way we are both tourists AND tour guides!”

“ya do this kinda thing a lot?”

“Indeed! We have almost half a dozen universes connected already, with several more nearly finished as well! Though there have been some… incidents that have occurred due to several universes inhabitants being, uh, less than nice?”

“the hell does that mean?”

“I do not really wish to talk about it, but I can assure you that it had nothing to do with scary cannibal monsters that tried to get us and that I definitely don’t still have nightmares about it!” 

The native Sans shot his alternate a bemused look that was answered with a shrug. “okaaaay, moving on. what am i supposed to call ya? ‘cause having the same name is gonna get confusing real quick.”

“we mostly call me comic and my bro rus to try and avoid confusion and y’know, awkward questions if we’re outside.”

They raise an eyebrow at that. “wow, comic? that’s pretty rich considering i’m funnier than ya.”

“first, hurtful. and second, i already called dibs, you gotta respect the dibs.” Comic states seriously. 

The other Sans laughed at that, nodding sagely. “that’s fair, the dibs is sacred.”

“next question, why do ya only give advice on how to fix the machine? if ya’ve already fixed yers then why not just stick around and take care of it?”

“if i could i would, but the machine that gets us here runs on a timer so that it doesn't leave us stranded. it tears a hole in the space to get us here and after a set period of time it’ll yank us back to our own ‘verse automatically and fix the gap. it’s mostly set up as a failsafe for dimensional safety as well as insurance for if we get separated or locked up or something similar. after a certain… incident that occurred a while back we set it up so that it engages before we go and can’t be altered afterwards.”

“sounds like there have been a lot of ‘incidents’ with all this travel.” Sans says, a hesitant look crossing his features.

“well y’know, infinite multiverse and all, they’re not all gonna be gems.” Comic shrugged before continuing. “the machine usually takes a long time to fix, anywhere from a week to a few months depending. if you need more help or materials to fix it, we wait out the timer and come back with a new one in place that will hopefully give us all the time we need.” Comic recites mechanically, as if from a script.

“so what’s yer universe like anyway?” The other questioned. “must be pretty boring if ya have to go universe-hopping just to have some fun”

“I am so glad you asked!” Rus shouted. He had grown tired of Sans’ explanation after about the 3rd time he’d heard it. His brother never did anything to spice it up and make it interesting enough to pay attention, he even reused the same old jokes! He would say that it was fine because each of their alternates had never heard it before and it almost always went over well, but that was just unacceptable! The Great Papyrus (-er, just Rus) would not allow his brother’s laziness to ruin introductions!

——-

Comic listened quietly as his brother regaled his alternate with tales of their own universe, his magic buzzing pleasantly, lulling him into a daze. He had nearly drifted off when the slamming of a door jolted him out of his stupor.

“RUNT! Where the hell are you?!” A somewhat familiar voice called from the doorway.

All three occupants of the room jumped at the shout, the sound of stomping footsteps signaling the newcomer's approach until what could only be the native Papyrus came into view. He stood several inches taller than Rus and had a large crack running down his right socket. His armor looked somewhat similar to Papyrus’ battle body, but painted black with the shoulder pads sharpened to spikes and dark leather pants held up with a belt bearing a golden skull buckle. The scarf around his neck was tattered and frayed, but still a vibrant red that matched his clawed gloves and combat boots. His sockets widen a bit in surprise as he takes in the scene before him.

“Hello Edgy-Me! I am the Great Papyrus, but you may call me Rus! It is rather nice to make your acquaintance!”

——————————————

The first thing he notices isn’t the nervousness in his brother’s expression or the hand being held out to him. The thing that catches Papyrus’ attention first is the tingling sensation running through his bones as his magic hums happily, a tugging in his Soul causing his eyes to lock onto the last person in the room. Years of reading his brother’s expressions is the only way he notices the short skeleton’s shift in demeanor from mild interest to shock as he meets their eyelights. 

The taller skeleton in front of him coughs awkwardly and Papyrus realizes that he had been staring for far too long, having completely ignored the skeleton in front of him. Papyrus jerkily sticks his hand out to grasp the other’s, offering a stilted greeting, the words feeling foreign coming from his mouth. “Nice to make your aquaintence...”

The other skeleton (Rus he thinks?) eagerly shakes his hand, ignoring the oddness of his greeting and grinning widely.

“uh, boss? what exactly did ya need?”

Papyrus had nearly forgotten what he had returned for, but the reminder brought his annoyance back full-force. 

“Well you see, I was just on my normal patrol through Snowdin forests, recalibrating all of my traps when I thought to stop in and check on my dear brother during his shift.” His words dripped with irritation as he met his brother’s decidedly amused gaze, “So imagine my surprise when I get to your station and, lo and behold, you are not there. Again!” 

“aw c’mon boss. i’m on my break.” 

“For the entire hour it took me to check in with the dogs and return here? I know for a fact that your break isn’t that long! Why not take a break from taking breaks and try getting some actual work done for once!”

“a break inside a break? nah, too much work.” 

It truly was a wonder how he had never managed to strangle his brother when he made jokes like that, testing both his patience and sanity.

Papyrus put his head in his hands, groaning in frustration. Raising his head to peer at the two skeletons once more, he continued, “At the very least, it seems the report I received about unknown monsters in Snowdin wasn’t just the dogs literally chasing their tails again.”

Rus takes this moment to pipe up again. “Yes, it is actually rather convenient that you have arrived, as we do have things to discuss with the both of you! As I had previously been saying, we will only be around here for the next little while in order to assist.”

Papyrus narrows his eyes at Rus before switching his gaze back to his own brother.

Sans’ expression is calm and composed, the usual tension in his bones around outsiders completely absent. That and a subtle nod is all the signal Papyrus needs to take his place standing at his brother’s side. Whatever these two have to say is enough to interest his brother, which means that it is enough for Papyrus to at least hear out.

“Assist with what exactly?” He asks, his eyes not leaving his brother.

“long story.” Sans says dismissively, “basically these guys are copies of us from who-the-hell-even-knows-where in the multiverse and they’re gonna help fix up a machine that’ll let us travel around like that.”

Fucking what? How the hell does his brother say such utter nonsense so casually?

“yep, that’s pretty much it.” His eyes are drawn back to the skeleton from earlier. ~~His gaze is the same mix of nonchalance and amusement he normally only saw on his brother. Did he not care? Was he trying to hide it?~~

“i’m gonna be taking a look at your guys’ machine to figure out what it needs. after that, it’s just a matter of fixin’ it, which could take awhile.” They say confidently, meanwhile Papyrus is still trying to catch up in the conversation. 

“I have more than a little trouble believing this ridiculousness, are we just supposed to take your word for it that this isn’t just some fabrication?” He knew that Sans believed them for some reason, but this was just a bit too far-fetched for him to trust completely.

“Oh! I have some proof for that!” Rus shouts excitedly, quickly pulling a phone out of his inventory; a few taps later, the phone is being shoved into his hands by the cheery skeleton before him. “That album should be our last visit with the Swaps! The one in the orange hoodie goes by Stretch and his brother is Blue."

Papyrus takes a closer look at the device in question (a much more advanced version of the phones popular throughout his own Underground he notes). True to his alternate's word, the album was filled with what was probably hundreds of photos of their visitors and two other skeletons in various activities. Rus and Blue setting traps... Rus and Blue sparring... Rus and Blue having a snowball fight... a pile of snow with an orange-sleeved arm poking out?

"oh man, it's the one of when you and blue got mad at stretch for falling asleep and buried him in a snowpoff." Says a voice near the vicinity of his elbow. Papyrus nearly jumps as he realizes his brother's alternate had snuck up on him during his perusal of Rus's photo gallery and is narrowly able to stop his knee-jerk reaction upon someone getting so far into his personal space.

"i swear, i thought i was a heavy sleeper, but this guy really takes the cake." They continue, either completely unaware of or unfazed by his reaction. "it's a real good thing skeletons don't feel cold."

They look up at him, as if suddenly having remembered something. "oh yeah, you weren't here when i introduced myself. as you might've guessed, the name's sans, but i mostly go by comic nowadays." Comic then holds out a hand for him to shake.

He extends a hand to reciprocate, realizing too late his mistake as a loud _Phbbbbbbbt!_ cuts through the relative silence of the house and Papyrus quickly yanks his hand back as if burned. 

Comic's grin seemed to widen as he laughed at his own joke. "heheheheh. the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick, it's always funny." 

Papyrus felt a scowl creep over his face as the familiar-yet-different prank registered and was about to unleash a scathing comment when the still-giggling skeleton is suddenly hefted into the air by his brother. 

"Comic! I cannot believe you would subject my poor alternate to your tired old jape!" Rus nearly shouted at the monster dangling from his grip.

"aw c'mon bro, it's a classic." Comic whined, not making a single move to escape.

"No! I told you that if you tried that tired old joke one more time on one of our alternates that I was going to do something about it!" Rus deposits his brother in a nearby corner of the room facing the wall. 

"boo, i don't wanna be in time out."

"Really brother? I'd have assumed you liked how much warmer it is in that corner. After all it is ninety degrees." Rus says with a knowing smirk.

Papyrus feels his own smile twitch even as both Sanses break out into laughter.

Rus makes a show of dusting off his hands as he makes his way back to his previous spot. "Now where were we? Ah yes, the machine! Basically, if you so choose we can immediately begin assessing the damage to your machine to get it fixed as soon as possible."

"yer sure that's all? no strings, no nothing?" Sans asks cautiously, voicing what Papyrus had been wary of asking about.

"well, you're probably gonna want to pick your nicknames before getting introduced to the rest of the multiverse. dibs being sacred in all, if there's something you wanna go by you'd better call it before someone else does." Comic says, slightly muffled by him still being turned towards a wall. Papyrus notes in passing that the corner he's in now is very much not the one he was put into in the first place. Knowing how Sans usually gets around, he's not even going to try to question it.

"We need nicknames?" Papyrus asks.

Rus nods. "Yes, it does get rather confusing trying to call everyone Sans and Papyrus, this just makes things slightly easier. It doesn't need to happen immediately, just before you meet everyone else." He adds, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

"we pretty much play it that whoever's universe we're in gets their choice of what to be called, it's worked out ok so far." Comic says from a specifically different corner even further away in the room.

"noted." Sans states simply, grinning widely as he watched this new chaos unfold.

"You said there are others correct? What names are already taken that we should avoid?"

"Well as you know, we have Blue and Stretch from Swap, but then we have Razz and Slim from SwapFell, Hit and Noir from the Mafia, Comet and Nova from Outer, Goggles and Arrow from Flight and a few others who haven't quite decided yet much like yourselves!" He proclaims excitedly, counting off each set of names on a finger as he goes.

"if ya need a list we could always consult... the notebook _dunnnnnn_..." Comic adds dramatically from _yet another_ corner.

"Comic! No unnecessary ominous sound effects when you are in time out!"

There is suddenly the sound of a rimshot from some unidentifiable source.

"I said no ominous sound effects brother!"

"what? that's not ominous."

"When it comes to your awful puns brother, everything is ominous."

As amusing as this lighthearted banter was, Papyrus could feel irritation creeping up on him as they continued. Hadn't they even mentioned that their time was limited?

"Can we please get back to the topic at hand?" Papyrus says, an edge of annoyance creeping into his voice.

Rus's attention snaps back to him and he coughs sheepishly. "Ah yes, well. As I was saying, my brother would have to take a look at the machine to figure out exactly what needs to be fixed and after that we can begin gathering the necessary blueprints and materials."

"Then we might as well get started. Sans-" Papyrus starts, turning to his brother who is twirling a small silver key around one finger.

"way ahead of you boss." Sans remarks smugly, already beginning to head downstairs. When Papyrus goes to follow him, he realizes that neither Comic nor Rus had moved (aside from Comic being back in the original corner he was placed in somehow...).

"Are either of you coming?"

Rus turns to Comic, apparently also realizing that his brother hadn't moved. "Brother, I do believe that is your cue to go technobabble or something."

"can't, i'm in time out."

"Oh for the love of-!" Rus starts, before composing himself once more. "Comic, you are now officially not in time out."

"freedom!" Comic yells half-heartedly, both fists raised in triumph. In the blink of an eye he had disappeared from the corner once more, reappearing next to Papyrus and calmly walking after Sans as if nothing happened, leaving Papyrus dumbfounded in his wake.


	3. Chapter 3

The basement was nearly exactly how Papyrus remembered it; cluttered, disorganized, full of books and blueprints he didn't fully understand, and of course the hunk of metal that was their machine covered by a ratty old tarp. The only thing that was really new about it was the significant amount of dust it had managed to accumulate over the period of time that Sans had obviously left it in disuse.

“alright, here it is.” Sans stated, moving to pull the tarp off the mass in the corner of the room.

Papyrus hadn’t really known what to expect from the machine his brother kept hidden away for so many years, but from the expression on Comic’s face, it was clearly less than ideal.

The whole thing was a mess of scorched and dented metal, the outer panels covered in an unappealing combination of scratches, dust and ash. In some places the panels were even ripped open to expose frayed wiring and broken machinery. The machine’s main console was probably the worst of it all; buttons melted, cracked or missing entirely and the display monitor completely shattered.

“yeesh, what'd you do to this thing?” Comic asked incredulously, walking up to the machine to gaze upon it’s shattered remains.

“eh, little of this, a little of that. then i got real pissed trying to fix it and just shot it with a blaster a couple times.” That did sound like his brother, who was extremely patient in figuring things out until he wasn't, usually giving up in rather spectacular fashion. At least that explained why he hadn't had to drag Sans away from the machine for dinner in such a long time.

Comic begins circling the machine, an appraising grimace crossing his features as he searches for some kind of starting point.

Sans, noticing the other’s distress, remarks casually. “hey pal you look pretty upset, guessin’ this means we’re in double trouble.” 

His alternate snaps out of his thoughts with a jerk before the joke registers. “heh. yeah, i’m beside myself.” Comic shoots back with a wink.

Papyrus groans in exasperation. Why did he have to share his brother’s awful taste in jokes?

Comic chuckles lightly for a moment, grabbing a large roll of what appeared to be blueprints out of his inventory, handing them to Sans. “just look those over, along with all the parts i have listed and figure out what we can get here and what we can’t. then we can start on a list of stuff i’ll bring by next time.” 

Sans takes the list and starts skimming through it as Comic glances around for tools to begin disassembling their machine. Awkward silence reigns for several minutes as both Sanses are immersed in their respective tasks and Papyrus shifts uncomfortably, unsure of what to do. The minutes drag on with the only sound being the quiet click of metal on metal and the occasional shuffle of paper and he now sees why his alternate opted to stay upstairs instead.

His eyes flick to Comic, his mind going back to the feeling he had upon meeting him. It was something that they had to discuss right? Or maybe it was something he'd rather not talk about at all? Even with how distrustful and cruel the world was, there were few people that would completely ignore their-

_BANG!_

Papyrus jumps as the silence is broken, a sharpened bone already in hand as he looks around for the source of the noise, Sans following suit. His eyes quickly land on Comic and the large metal panel from the machine's exterior, dust still heavy in the air around where it had fallen. Papyrus sighs and dispels the attack, Comic sending them both an apologetic grin before turning back to his assessment of the machine’s interior.

“To be honest with you, this isn’t the worst i’ve seen. it’ll probably still be easier to just rebuild it from scratch, but there’s a good amount of usable parts we can steal from this one.”

“good, ‘cause most of this shit’s gonna be next to impossible to find around here.” Sans says, relieved.

Comic nods distractedly, having already reached into the machine to inspect another part. “yeah, that’s something we’ve noticed in a few of the rougher worlds. if people are struggling to survive, they’re not gonna prioritize making or finding random machine parts. like i said though, we’re actually in pretty good shape.”

He stops short as he attempts to pull his hand out of the machine, yanking his arm backwards to no avail. “nope, nevermind. your machine has decided to eat me, looks like i’ll be stuck here forever.”

Sans snorts as Papyrus rolls his eyes, quickly crossing the room to help free his brother’s double. 

“How the hell did you even manage to get stuck? It’s barely been two minutes.”

Comic gives him a helpless shrug as he continues attempting to free himself. After another minute of struggling, Papyrus gives a mighty tug and Comic's arm comes free with the sound of tearing fabric.

“oh man razz’s gonna be pissed.” Comic hisses, looking over the damage to the jacket. “got anywhere i can hang this up?”

“just toss it on the desk.” Sans says with a dismissive wave towards the cluttered workspace.

Comic shrugs off the jacket and tosses it towards the indicated area haphazardly, his frame seeming significantly smaller without it. A glint of metal catches Papyrus’ eye and he stops cold.

His brother’s alternate is wearing a plain leather collar, the shining silver buckle having been what caught his eye. A cold rage begins to swirl in Papyrus soul as he senses the magic imbued within the object. Comic gives him an odd look as he undoubtedly feels the quick jab of magic that confirms the signature’s match to the cheery skeleton sitting oh-so-innocently upstairs. Papyrus’ claws curl into fists as his expression contorts into pure fury.

“What is the meaning of that?” He demands, the ghost of a growl rumbling in his throat.

At his tone, Sans’ attention switches from the paperwork to search for a threat while Comic seems confused, following his gaze downwards to the collar.

“WHERE THE FUCK DOES HE GET OFF PUTTING A COLLAR ON HIS OWN BROTHER?!” Papyrus shrieks. 

Sans seemed stunned by the suddenness of his actions, leaving Papyrus to begin storming upstairs to confront his alternate. About halfway up the stairs, his way is blocked by Comic, his arms raised in a placating gesture. 

“woah, pal. i think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding-.”

Papyrus pushes past him as he ascends, completely ignoring Comic’s protests. Bursting through the entrance to the basement, Papyrus rounds the building and slams open the front door with enough force to leave (yet another) dent in the wall. 

He quickly scans for any sign of his cheery alternate, his bones boiling with rage. Seeing nothing, he's just about to begin searching upstairs when there is a loud clattering from the kitchen, his alternate emerging from the doorway looking surprised.

"Hello Edgy-me! How is-" He cut his alternate off with a trio of sharpened bones that missed, embedding themselves into the wall behind him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Papyrus growled dangerously, his magic itching to send another volley, ~~hurt, maim-~~

"I believe I will need just a bit more context than that." Rus replies nervously, glancing between the front door and his enraged alternate. 

"No more warning shots!" Papyrus snarls, a second and third set of bones shooting at Rus as he scrambled to dodge out of the way, Papyrus lunging after him with one clawed hand reeling back to strike.

Just as he's within inches of the other, he feels his gravity shift and he's crashing to the ceiling before he can blink. He scrambled to get his feet back under him, looking around for what had sent him flying only to see Comic, one eye blazing blue.

“i think we should all just take a moment to calm down and reset our tempers.”


	4. Chapter 4

“i think we should all just take a moment to calm down and reset our tempers.” Comic states, his voice stiff with a dangerous calm, an unspoken threat hanging in the air as he continues to hold Papyrus aloft.

"that should go for everyone i think." Papyrus hears Sans growl from the other side of the room, his own eye glowing a bright red as his magic flares.

Comic blinks dazedly for a moment before carefully moving Papyrus from the ceiling to the other side of the room, depositing him on the couch in a surprisingly gentle manner. Papyrus watches him take a deep breath, the remaining anger on his face melting away back into his usual lazy grin.

"okay, everyone cool now? 'cause i think that's all the fighting i have in me for one day."

"aw what? that was probably the shittiest fight i've seen all week. i demand a rematch." Sans mocks, all the while glancing between him and Comic, looking for a signal that the fight was truly over.

Papyrus hesitates before nodding. Now that his mind was clearer, he had decided there was no point in continuing until they had cleared the air. ~~He really hoped he hadn't made a mistake.~~

Sans relaxes somewhat, but doesn't fully let go of his defensive posture, habit keeping him on high alert for any signs of a fight breaking out once more.

"not really much for fighting, can i ask what that was about instead?" Comic asks. "i mean i gathered that this," He hooks a finger around the collar. "means something pretty bad here, but specifics would be helpful."

Papyrus jaw clenched so hard be could almost hear the bone creak. So it was different there, he had been about to skewer Rus because he overreacted to some stupid mistake-

"it's a sign of servitude," Sans pipes up suddenly and Papyrus turns to look at his brother, breaking out of his own spiraling thoughts. "basically a stronger monster puts a collar infused with their magic on a weaker one and it doesn't come off, it's shows that they're slaves to the other monster. boss's been working to get rid of the whole thing for months now and it's already outlawed in snowdin."

"Well then... It definitely means something completely different where we heard about it." Rus says, a note of disgust in his voice.

"guess that's just one more difference between here and swapfell, something to remember." Comic says offhandedly, starting to unbuckle the dratted thing before his very eyes. "definitely losing this from the costume then."

"Costume?" Papyrus asks, still slightly dazed from the whole ordeal.

"yep. the swapfells helped us put together some stuff that wouldn't stand out so much in a not-so-nice universe. up until now they were the only fell world we had friendly contact with, so a lot of our prep was based on stuff they told us."

"Which reminds me brother, where is Razz's jacket? You'd better not have lost it!" Rus says, pointing a finger at Comic accusingly.

Comic's eyes flick to Papyrus for a moment as he hesitates to answer. "well... it's not lost...." He mumbles guiltily.

Rus sighs, rubbing his temples as if to sooth a headache. "That is something I shall have to handle I'm sure, but for now we should probably write down everything we just heard in the guide so that you do not forget and cause trouble later."

"ye of little faith..." 

"More like 'ye of much experience with my lazy brother'." Rus replies coolly. "It really would be best for you to write that down, just in case."

“okay.” Comic replies, though making no move to do so.

“Right now!”

“okay.”

“I mean it!”

“okay.” Comic repeats, pulling out a book from his inventory. It was rather dirty and battered-looking, with bent pages, scratches and dark splotches littering the cover. As he watched, Comic opened up the notebook, slowly writing what appeared to be a single word before closing the book again

“There is no way you are done recording all that information! Let me see!” Rus shouted, holding out a hand for the book.

Comic hands it over easily and Rus squints at the page for a moment before turning back to his brother

“You just wrote 'that' in the margins!”

“you said to write 'that' down, so i did. something wrong?”

“Comic! Just write what I asked you to!” Rus yells, holding the notebook back out to his brother. Comic takes the book with a cheeky grin on his face that Rus notices.

“Wait! Do not literally write ‘what I asked you to’!”

“getting some mixed signals here bro, what am i supposed to be writing exactly?”

Rus takes a moment to respond, likely choosing his next words very carefully.

“Brother, I need you to transcribe our alternates' concerns and warnings for future reference.” Rus states calmly.

“oh, okay. why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

Rus goes bug-eyed, the newly-manifested orbs glaring down at his brother who smiles innocently back at him.

And just like that, they were back to joking. Papyrus was in shock, maybe thirty seconds ago he was certain that he was about to be murdered in his own home for his failure to control his rage, now they had once again dropped their guard around him as if he were an old friend. These two were either very used to these sort of outbursts, or completely insane. 

For now he was betting on the former.

"outta curiosity, what's a collar mean in swapfell?" Sans asks suddenly and Papyrus would be lying if he said he wasn't curious after that whole debacle.

Rus took a moment to register that he had been spoken to, but upon realization he considers the question for a moment before answering. "It is more like a way of declaring allies and warning other monsters away. In a similar fashion to here, a strong monster would put a collar imbued with magic on a weaker one, but it is more of a way to establish a pecking order or warn off enemies."

"so it's more like a 'you fuck with them, you fuck with me' kinda thing?" 

Rus nods. "Yes, and also language."

"i'm speaking plain ol' english, pal." Sans smirks and he can see Comic trying to hold in laughter. 

Papyrus looks Rus square in the eye. "You are fighting a losing battle with that one." 

"damn straight."

"In any case," Papyrus continues, meeting Rus's gaze. "I must apologize for my previous actions. I acted rashly and almost seriously injured you without stopping to consider any explanation." 

Rus blinks, likely taken aback by his sudden apology "I very much appreciate the apology Edgy-Me, though it is unnecessary, as I had already forgiven you. And for the record, I was not so close to injury as you might think! I am the Great Rus after all!" He says smugly, a hint of challenge in his grin as he looks back at Papyrus.

He felt a smirk grow as he stared back. They were definitely going to have a sparring match or two before the pair of them departed.

"i'd be careful creampuff, that's the lieutenant of the royal guard yer talkin' to there." Sans remarks and Papyrus can see the shock on his alternate's face.

"YOU ARE LIEUTENANT OF THE ROYAL GUARD!?" Rus shouts suddenly, his excitement stealing away his volume control. "HOW DID YOU DO IT? DID YOU COMPLETE SPECIAL TRAINING? DID ONE OF YOUR PUZZLES IMPRESS UNDYNE? WAS IT THE ELECTRICITY MAZE? I BET IT WAS, SHE LIKES DANGEROUS PUZZLES A LOT! DID-"

"bro, chill." Comic laughs, somehow making his voice heard above his brother's. "he can't answer any questions if you just keep going." 

Rus looks mortified for a moment, coughing loudly into his hand to try and mask his embarrassment. "Ahem. My apologies Edgy-Me, you see I have been trying to get the Undyne in my own world to accept me as a member of the Guard, but have had little luck convincing her thus far."

Papyrus nods politely, completely understanding Rus's feelings. After all, his own Undyne had been reluctant to allow him into the guard, and even when she did allow him to join, it had been an uphill battle to be assigned anything that wasn't just sentry duty. If their world was as kind and soft as he had begun to suspect, it was no real wonder that they would need fewer guards in general, let alone one with his alternate's kind disposition.

"To answer your questions, yes I am the Lieutenant, but the only reason I was allowed in is because the Guard is in constant need of new recruits. I gained status by merely completing a substantial number of missions without dying, nothing more." Papyrus says waving a hand dismissively. 

He hears Sans scoff from beside him. "oh yeah, i'm sure the fact ya cut snowdin's murder rate in half had absolutely nothing to do with it." 

Papyrus rolls his eyes. "That was hardly my work alone, as you very well know Sans." He says with a pointed look at his brother who is completely unaffected.

"yeah, the other part was that ya kept helping fishface burn 'er house down so she was in town all the time staying at our place."

Papyrus narrows his eyes at Sans' deflection, his alternate perking up again at his brother's words.

"It would seem that your Undyne is just as enthusiastic about cooking as my own! Although I have found that the food turns out better when the production methods are slightly less passionate and violent..." His alternate remarked thoughtfully. "I will never understand how she manages to rebuild her house so quickly every time."

"uh, practice?" Comic replies tentatively.

Papyrus knew for a fact that Comic was correct, his Captain having bragged about her talent in carpentry after the last time she had managed to burn it down. At the very least, the fish jokes Sans told when Undyne stayed with them were a nice break from the constant skeleton puns his brother insisted on plaguing his life with. Not to say they were of better quality, but over the years he was certain he'd heard every iteration of every skeleton pun in the Underground a hundred times over and the variety was welcome.

"that reminds me," Sans says, jerking Papyrus out of his thoughts for the moment. "ya said the timer on yer machine was gonna be up in three days right? where ya plannin' to sleep 'till then? couch won't fit both of ya."

As much as Papyrus hated to admit it, Sans was right about how unprepared they were for guests. They didn't have any sort of guest room or spare space, and the Inn was certainly not an option; for all Snowdin had been cleaned of crime, the Inn had remained a steadfast home base for dirty dealings, attacks and the like, certainly not safe for outsiders no matter how prepared they might be.

"i'll be fine, just gonna stay in the closet like a proper skeleton, make a little nest outta coats and shi- uh stuff." Comic corrects himself at the last second with a look to his brother.

"preeeetty sure that's like, hamsters or gremlins or something, not skeletons."

"wait, really? guess i've been doing it wrong this whole time." Comic states in mock-surprise. "oh well, looks like i'll just have to use this instead." He says, pulling out an odd-looking grayish cube from his inventory with a flourish and Papyrus blinks dazedly as the rather unimpressive-looking cube is held aloft proudly before him.

There is a beat of silence where Papyrus is still half-expecting Comic to do something before Sans starts slow-clapping mockingly.

"wow. so cool. have fun sleeping on the world's tiniest bed i guess." He assumed Sans was referring to the (admittedly rather interesting) cube-shaped folding bed frame that the two of them had seen in Alphys' lab on occasion.

Comic walks over and places the cube by a nearby wall, the action apparently activating it as it comes to life glowing a vibrant teal-green. Comic perches on the cube, easily balancing on one foot as he grins at the two of them. "now you see me," He starts dramatically before taking a step backwards off the cube and into the wall, his form disappearing even as his voice echoes out from nowhere. "and now ya don't."

Papyrus' sockets go wide and he immediately rushes over to where his brother's duplicate had seemingly disappeared, this was definitely different from his brother's pranks. Really, those two should use their talents for bending space and time for something other than laughs.

Rus seems to share his opinion though, as he admonishes his brother. "Comic, we agreed that you would refrain from pranking our alternates with your weird time/space shenanigans."

"but rus," Comic whines, his _freaking disembodied head_ popping out of the wall he had disappeared into. "this is like the best one i have, you can't expect me to just abandon comedy gold."

Rus rolls his eyes, completely unfazed by his brother's argument. "Just make the entryway visible Comic, I think that we have all had enough pranks for one day."

Comic grumbles but complies, disappearing once more only to reappear moments later along with a large doorframe that he was currently standing inside. Peering into the doorway reveals a short hallway that is apparently completely unladen by such trifling things as physics, but at this point what did he really expect? Something normal?

Sans seemed impressed at least, his own experience with this kind of technology probably helped to grasp just how difficult making something like this must be. "ok, gotta admit that's pretty badass. ya've basically got a collapsible pocket dimension that ya don't even need to plug in for it to work. props where they're due." He remarks approvingly.

Comic looked rather proud at Sans' admission. "yeah, i gotta admit, i kind half-stole this one from the alphys of our world. basically it's a cross between shortcuts and the dimensional box technology she adapted for cellphones; a little 'tent' that sits somewhere between here and the void in our own little pocket dimension. i just call it the pc."

The damn smile on his face was _begging_ them all to ask what it stood for, but Papyrus knew better than to fall for such an obvious setup. Sans however-

"what's the pc stand for?"

-had no such aversion to stupid humor.

Comic chuckles, motioning to Sans as if about to divulge a secret. Sans creeps closer, looking slightly confused as Comic starts whispering.

"............"

"ok, that's actually pretty good."

"......."

"uh huh."

"..................................."

"ya did not."

"yup." Comic says now back to a more regular volume.

Sans' eyes go wide and he bursts into full-on laughter, Comic soon breaking down as well, leaving Papyrus thoroughly confused as he watched the pair.


	5. Chapter 5

Rus crosses his arms, looking an understandable mix of both confused and annoyed as he glares at the two chuckling skeletons. "I still do not understand why you have never explained that to me."

"i'm waiting until i have the full set." Comic manages around a fit of giggles.

"Full set of what?"

"oh, ya know." Comic replies unhelpfully.

"I don't actually, care to explain?"

"not really."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"'cause if you knew what it was you'd change it."

"So it _is_ a pun!" Rus shouts, pointing a finger at his brother accusingly.

"i don't remember saying that." Comic deflects, the wall behind Rus suddenly becoming very interesting. "anyways, this thing has its drawbacks, like you can't move it when it's activated and to deactivate it you have to dismiss the space, so you can't use it transport stuff like you can a box." It would appear that subtlety was not Comic's forte.

"It is useful to be as self-sufficient as possible, in many of the universes we visit as you can never know what will go wrong next. It is actually for that exact reason that the two of us carry around a decent amount of monster food and other such necessities in our inventories whenever we travel." Rus explains, while still glaring at his brother for the very suspiciously abrupt change of subject.

"well shit, you guys're pretty kitted out. this something ya made up after one of those _incidents_ ya mentioned earlier?" Sans asked, going so far as to put air quotes around the word 'incident' for some reason. Papyrus hopes he doesn't need to be concerned about this.

"Surprisingly, no." Rus says, almost sounding a little shocked himself. "It was really more for convenience since most of our alternates have homes similar to our own without much guest space."

Sans chuckles a bit at that for some reason. "with how fucking insane everything else ya've been talkin' 'bout has been 'm almost disappoin-"

_Beepbeepbeep! Beepbeepbeep!_

Sans reaches into his pocket, pulling out a very battered-looking phone and hitting a button on the side, ending the noise.

"welp, shift's over apparently. time really does fly when yer busy avoidin' responsibilities."

"You are at least going to make a proper report, correct?"

"oh yeah, lemme tell captain fish sticks how i went home for my break and had a chat with alternate versions of ourselves who're tryna fix the super-secret machine in our basement so we can go universe-hopping. that'll go over great i'm sure." 

It would go over splendidly, Undyne would immediately tell the King, who would then either do his best to take over these alternate dimensions or simply steal their human souls for his own use. That is if she didn't laugh in his face at the concept. He knew Sans was kidding, but it still wasn't a pleasant thought.

"...fine. But at least _try_ and make it convincing this time."

His brother's response is to shoot him fingerguns as he back away towards the front door... truly encouraging. "c'mon comic, i wanna take a closer look at some of those blueprints." Sans waves his alternate over as he begins the descent to the basement once more. Comic takes this as his cue, waving jovially at Rus before following after him.

"think the two of ya can get along while we're gone?" Sans asks from the doorway, his voice laced with mock-concern.

Papyrus waves him off dismissively. "Yes, yes, you have fun dealing with that heap of metal, I have other things to do." 

Indeed he had plenty of things to do. Like trying to figure out what he was going to do to occupy himself. He still had a few questions, ~~the most pressing of which were better for a one-on-one conversation~~ so it looked like he'd have to put them off for now. He sighs internally, his sockets searching around for something that could possibly distract him (he certainly wasn't going to follow after them and endure the awkward silence in that basement again) landing on the bones currently turning his living room wall into a pincushion. Task acquired.

Papyrus looks over to his alternate who was currently standing at the opposite side of the room awkwardly. "I'm going to start cleaning up," He says, jerking a thumb towards the attacks that were still glowing faintly. "If you would like to assist, then please retrieve the wall plaster and mesh liners from the hall closet."

"Ah, you keep them in the same place as me! I shall be but a moment then!" Rus replies happily, apparently needing no more instruction to find the supplies. 

Papyrus turns back to the attacks, deciding that it would be best to have most of them removed before his alternate returned, they still could do HP damage after all and considering their intended target...

Yes, best to get them out of the way.

He really had gone a bit overboard, he thought as he carefully pulled the first few from the wall, trying to avoid creating additional work for himself by breaking the holes further. He wasn't concentrating on maintaining the attacks anymore and as such they should have faded naturally, but these were currently still semi-physical and probably would be for a day or so. He could probably at least reuse them if he ran into trouble on his patrol tomorrow he thought, stowing them sharpened bones away in his inventory.

It's then that Rus comes rushing back into the room, Papyrus' bucket of wall-repair tools in tow. He doesn't waste any time falling into line next to Papyrus, unpacking supplies and getting to work merrily.

"You know, I firmly believe that questions about why we know so much about home repair can be summed up in one word." Rus jokes, shooting Papyrus a meaningful look.

 **"Undyne."** They say in unison and Rus grins widely at the expected answer. 

"You know, the Undyne in Swap is actually a scientist." He remarks suddenly and Papyrus cannot quite contain his surprise, his mind immediately conjuring up images of his own Undyne in Alphys' glasses running amok in a lab, 'accidentally' smashing beakers and yelling at lab equipment to make it 'work better'. And then of course he couldn't forget the obligatory explosions from her putting random chemicals together while she laughed maniacally.

"She's very good at it," Rus continues. "But occasionally her and Stretch will get together and blow things up with science, apparently some things are multiversal even if they aren't quite the same." Rus chuckles lightly and Papyrus is surprised to find himself joining in. He had totally called it.

They work for several minutes in companionable silence, Papyrus carefully prizing the bones from the wall as Rus follows behind him with the wire mesh and bucket of plaster. He's pulling what is nearly the last of his attacks out of the wall when a thought occurs to him.

"Why were you in the kitchen before?" Papyrus asks. He hadn't really thought about it earlier because of... reasons, but now it was bothering him.

Rus blinks at him. "Oh, I simply wanted to see if your sink was taller than mine." He says, as if that was a completely normal thing that people did. "Your sink is more than two feet shorter though, so I didn't even need to get the measuring tape this time."

Papyrus looks to the comfortably-tall countertop that housed his very normally-sized sink. More than two feet? How would that even function? Literally the only ones who would be able to use such a thing comfortably (or possibly at all) would be himself and Rus, it was completely impractical!

"Why would you ever need a sink that tall? Wouldn't it make things unnecessarily difficult on yourselves?"

Rus shrugs, apparently completely immune to the oddness of their conversation. "I use the space to store extra bones, if the sink is taller, there is more cabinet space for me to use."

For as much as that made sense, there really were better ways to achieve that same goal. Shelves, extra cupboards, alternative storage- hell, how did Comic get his dishes in their sink? He thought on that for a moment, his mind drifting towards his own brother; if Comic was anything like Sans, then he just didn't bother. Papyrus didn't even try to hide his cringe as he pictured the absolute mess that likely created.

They spent the next hour or so chatting amicably, starting off debating the pros and cons of certain sink heights before moving onto other topics; work, hobbies, pet peeves. It was all perfectly normal conversation, but Papyrus couldn't help how out of place he felt speaking so casually. 

They were just finishing up applying the last of the plaster when Sans and Comic finally returned from downstairs having somehow managed to get both of their clothes streaked in rust and what appeared to be machine oil. After a lot of griping about the pair's now-lacking cleanliness (and a few threats on Papyrus' part in order for Sans to relinquish his coat for cleaning) the night proceeded in a surprisingly normal manner, the only real difference being in the sheer number of bad puns he had to endure. 

It wasn't until late in the evening that Papyrus noticed Comic standing alone, gazing off into space by the front door. He quickly glances over towards the kitchen where Rus is still giving his brother an in-depth lecture of the pros and cons of different trap features and Sans is nodding along as he tries not to nod off. He supposed this was as good a time as any to have that conversation, making his way to the living room.

Before he can even get a word out Comic pipes up, apparently having heard his approach. "y'know i think a doorstop would be a pretty good idea." He says, eye lights still fixed on the wall.

Papyrus didn't even spare the dented wall a glance as he continued, voice serious. "As much as I may agree, there is something else I would like to discuss with you."

"yeah? 'n what's that?" Comic asks, finally turning to look at Papyrus innocently.

He had to be playing dumb at this point. Papyrus had seen the look on Comic's face when they'd first met, knew that he'd realized the same thing Papyrus had, so why...?

Papyrus' thoughts are cut off by a drawn-out yawn from Comic. "ugh, i think that's it for me pal, i'm gonna turn in and have myself one of those eight hour naps." What!? But he hadn't gotten to say anything yet! And it wasn't _that_ late. 

"You mean sleeping?" Papyrus says, the nonchalance in his voice the complete antithesis to his scattered thoughts.

"that's the one. pick up this conversation another time?" 

"...alright. Another time then." Papyrus agreed begrudgingly as Comic ambled off. It looked as if he'd have to wait until morning then.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was funny, I was all excited that I'd finished these chapters and go to post them, but ao3's down. Damn, I've got good timing XD

It had been almost two days since his and his brother's alternates arrival to their home and Papyrus had gotten no closer to speaking with Comic. 

For starters he was almost never alone, either Sans or Rus at his side talking about the machine, home, adventures, anything really and when he wasn't chatting with them he was either sleeping or working on the machine. While Comic had not outright _avoided_ him, including him in conversations and jokes and just being generally friendly, he definitely left no room for the one-on-one interaction that Papyrus would have preferred for this particular topic. Day three was closing in on them all and Papyrus knew that if he was going to deal with this it had to be soon, before the two of them went home and he was left with this weighing on his thoughts until Comic and Rus decided to return.

Subtlety had done nothing to solve this problem up until now, maybe the best choice would be to confront Comic directly?

That line of thinking is what had brought him to this point; him and Comic sitting in very awkward silence alone in Papyrus' room, each refusing to look at the other as Papyrus fumbled trying to figure out how to start this conversation. He opened and closed his jaw, false start after false start as he tried to decide what to say, when Comic interjected suddenly.

"so, i-uh, i guess this is probably about the whole 'soulmates' thing right?" He mutters, a ~~resigned~~ solemn expression taking away from his usual carefree grin.

Papyrus nods stiffly, his thoughts drifting back to when he had first heard of the concept of soulmates.

\---------

When his brother originally explained it to him when he was young, he hadn’t been very impressed.

_“All this nonsense about a predestined mate is absolutely moronic!” A thirteen-year-old Papyrus had exclaimed._

_Sans rolled his eyes. “well if ya’d let me finish, i could tell ya that that’s not all there is to it.”_

_Papyrus huffed, crossing his arms as he waited for his brother to continue._

_“a soulmate ain’t all about that romantic bullshit, though a lot o’ times it’s made out that way. a soulmate is someone that’s like…” Sans paused a moment, trying to figure out a good way to explain when his eyelights fell on some of his brother’s battered comic books._

_“...like a super team-up ally.”_

_Papyrus furrowed his brows in confusion, “What do you mean?”_

_“well, basically two soulmates ‘re supposed to have a special kind of harmony to their magic. it makes it easy to identify when ya meet ‘em and ya tend to get along pretty well, which is why a lotta people fall in love with their soulmates.”_

_“This doesn’t sound very super-ally like…”_

_Sans thought for a moment, idly scratching his skull as he did so. “remember all those stories ‘bout the king and queen during the war?”_

_Papyrus nodded his head eagerly, he had learned as much as he could about recorded wars and battles in monster history. Though it could be scarce at times, he was certain the battle tactics and strategies would be important in his joining the Royal Guard when he came of age. The King and Queen had been known for being particularly effective, doing the work of hundreds on the front lines and their power as Boss monsters showcasing spectacularly._

_“besides being boss monsters, they were as good as they were because of their connection as soul mates. as a tag-team they were able to cover each other’s weak points and made a better unit for it.”_

_Papyrus’ sockets widened. “So what you are saying is that there is an individual out there that not only matches my level of power and awesome, but increases it?! Why have we not started looking sooner Sans? Come on!” Papyrus yelled as he tugged his brother out the door, Sans trying to hold back laughter the whole way._

\-------

This is definitely not the situation he had expected to find himself in when he finally met them he thought taking a deep breath before beginning to speak.

"I was hoping that we could discuss it and figure out what this means for us and how we will proceed from here. Papyrus states, risking a glance towards Comic to gauge his reaction. 

Not good.

Comic's grin was pulled into a tight grimace, one with discomfort and apology written all over it.

"guess i shoulda figured i couldn't just ignore this forever." He sighs, his gaze dropping to the floor. "welp, this is the part where you end up hating me."

Papyrus is prepared for Comic to say he hates him, that is high LV is off-putting and worries him for his own safety, only proven further by Papyrus' outburst several days prior.

"i uh... im not really interested in having that kind of a relationship and it's not just with you, i mean just in general. im just not really up for being more-than-friends with anybody, i understand if you're mad." Comic mumbles, almost seeming to curl inwards as he spoke.

Papyrus had to backtrack for a moment, his spiraling thoughts of all the reasons Comic could have been rejecting him coming to a dead stop as he processed what he had said. What really baffled him was how completely ashamed Comic seemed during his admission, as if he had done something inexcusable. Unfortunately, the skeleton in question seemed to mistake his silence for anger and continues hurriedly.

"it's not that you're not a nice person or anything, in fact you're a really cool dude i just-"

"Why would I be mad?" Papyrus asks, cutting off the nervous rambling. "As I said, I wanted to talk with you and figure out where you stood in this, no obligations, no strings, just talk. I would like to know where your earlier assumption came from though."

Comic freezes, something that looks very much like shock crossing his features as he stares at Papyrus before his expression shifts back to neutral and he offers a nervous chuckle. "heh. it-uh sounds like another one of those 'cultural differences' things again, been cropping up a lot lately."

"Soulmates becoming romantic partners is normal in your world then I presume?" That would explain Comic's reaction when Papyrus confronted him at least.

"saying that it's normal is putting it too lightly, try more like required." Comic says bitterly. "soulmates are like, the gold standard for relationships back home, people who find them are pretty much expected to be together no matter what."

He sighs, shoving his hands into the pockets of the recently-repaired jacket, permanent grin scrunched up into the equivalent of a frown. "i knew this one lady that lived up the street from us that hadn't found her soulmate, but she still ended up married for like 20 years and they were a real nice couple. But one day, she runs into her soulmate when she's grocery shopping all the way in new home and the next thing i know, she's packing her stuff and divorcing her husband 'cause she's getting pressure from her parents, neighbors, coworkers- you name it- and it all just got to be too much to handle."

That was... unnecessarily harsh. 

"I can see why you would be concerned," Papyrus admits with a scowl. "But that is not a problem here. It is so rare for soulmates to be found that people hardly put any stock in them. After all, just because a stranger is your soulmate, it doesn't instantly mean that they are trustworthy."

"However," Papyrus holds out a hand to Comic. "I believe that simply calling us allies would be amenable to both parties in this case."

Comic's face cycles through several emotions, hesitance chief among them before finally settling on relief. He grabs Papyrus hand and shakes it firmly, a huge grin spreading across his face. "you're a real cool guy, y'know that edgelord?"

Papyrus scoffs. "But of course, I am the Great and Terrible Papyrus after all." He says smugly, drawing a laugh from the other.

He couldn't quite place why, but Papyrus had a good feeling about what was to come...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that's the end of the first part of this series. Not 100% how this is gonna turn out, but I've got some ideas for more stuff connected to this universe.


End file.
